Pepperdine Campus Again in Prop. 8 Controversy Spotlight

• University Reiterates Its Neutrality on Gay Marriage

BY ANNE SOBLE

There haven’t been any open demonstrations on campus, but some Pepperdine University alumni are criticizing their alma mater for appearing to be in the forefront of the defense of Proposition 8 and the attempt to abrogate the same sex marriages that preceded passage of the measure outlawing these unions.
Jerry Derloshon, the university’s director of public relations, said the school has heard from some individuals who lambasted faculty members involved in the anti-gay marriage effort, but emphasized that he “doesn’t know of any significant backlash.”
Derloshon said Pepperdine is neutral on both the highly controversial proposition and the issue of the validity of existing same sex unions.
He said the school’s response is “similar to what it was in the brouhaha over Professor Richard Peterson” during the Proposition 8 political campaign.
Peterson, a Pepperdine faculty member who was the broadcast face and voice for the measure—with his school affiliation texted at the bottom of the screen or included in the voiceover—is credited with giving the measure gravitas among undecided voters.
Derloshon said the school has also heard from other people who laud the visibility of members of the Pepperdine faculty in the contentious debate, but he stressed that the school’s neutrality is a free speech and academic rights issue.
Kenneth Starr, the dean of the Pepperdine Law School has recently been brought on board by the Proposition 8 forces as the lead attorney to take the three legal challenges to the measure and the efforts to void previous same sex unions, to the California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, if required.
Legal briefing on these cases is now in progress. A hearing on the first case could be held as soon as late February or early March.
Starr is operating under the aegis of ProtectMarraige.com—the Proposition 8 campaign committee— and the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund, which both repeatedly state the proponents’ position “that the will of the voters and Proposition 8 will be upheld.”
Andrew Pugno, Protect-Marriage and P8LDF general counsel, said on the groups’ Web site that “the addition of Dean Starr to this legal conversation will provide useful guidance for the Court in resolving these important issues.”
Derloshon emphasized that no one questions that Starr is “a leading Constitutional scholar” who has argued several dozen cases before U.S. Supreme Court.
The school spokesperson noted that Starr is not doing media interviews on the cases at this time and will not formally participate until the first round of oral arguments in the high profile cases.
Derloshon stressed that Starr is acting in an “individual capacity, exercising his free speech rights,” and added that the university “is an advocate of a free exchange of ideas” and “honors Starr’s free speech rights.”
However, some legal scholars and free speech advocates question Starr’s tolerance of the free speech rights of others because of his role in the so-called “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” Alaskan school banner case when he successfully argued for allowing limits on students’ free speech rights—the first meaningful court restriction of student rights in decades.
Starr also stirred up local controversy when he was named the ostensible head of a Pepperdine effort to address legal ways to curb paparazzi activity in Malibu. Starr ultimately never participated in the project, and, after the project was soundly criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union, journalist organizations and local media, it fell by the wayside.
An unsubstantiated number of critics are sending out emails that urge a “Pepperdine protest” and state, “If you’re currently donating to Pepperdine, stop until they stop this madness [and] don’t let your kids go to Pepperdine.”
An accompanying flyer states, “Pepperdine used to be a school we could be proud of. Now they’re leading the fight for hate, not acceptance and diversity.”
The Malibu Surfside News sent an email requesting more information to the protest organizer, but no response was received before the newspaper went to press.
Derloshon acknowledges that some alumni have contacted the school to say they would not be donating to Pepperdine, but he indicated that many of them had not been donors before.
Derloshon said Pepperdine has gay students and encourages open discussion of gay issues, noting that groups such as Soulforce have been to the campus and met with students, faculty and staff. He said, “We welcome discussion in an open environment, but it has to include all points of view.”